The past years have seen a dynamic change in the ability of science to comprehend vast amounts of data. Pioneering technologies such as nucleic acid arrays allow scientists to delve into the world of genetics in far greater detail than ever before. Exploration of genomic DNA has long been a dream of the scientific community. Held within the complex structures of genomic DNA lies the potential to identify, diagnose, or treat diseases like cancer, alzheimers or alcoholism. Answers to the world's food distribution problems may be held within the exploitation of genomic information from plants and animals.
It is estimated that by the Spring of 2000 a reference sequence of the entire human genome will be sequenced allowing for types of genetic analysis that were never before possible. Novel methods of sample preparation and sample analysis are needed to provide for the fast and cost effective exploration of complex samples of nucleic acids, particularly genomic DNA.